The Master of Wind

-Presence-

Lloyd's P.O.V:

My father stood in an opening stance, hands raised in front of him.

I breathed in deeply and rolled my neck, trying to regain my focus and at least some resemblance of center. I circled my dad slowly, keeping my pace even, measured, predictable... and then leapt forward to attack. My father staggered backward, caught unaware for a short moment. But he recovered quickly, and soon the two of us were fighting in a more familiar rhythm of striking, blocking, counterattacking, and dodging.

Two months had passed since the team disbanded. Stricken by grief, I'd turned to my father and Uncle Wu for help in regard to my training as the Green Ninja. I felt awful inside and out but as the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, I couldn't abandon my destiny. It wasn't fair and I hated every bit of it.

Sure, most people seemed to think that being destined to defeat a great evil was a good thing. It was the mark of a hero. The mark of someone to be admired. But I knew I was no one that anyone else ought to be looking up to, and defeating my father hadn't made me feel any more like a hero than I had beforehand - which is to say: not at all.

I still felt like a little kid hopelessly thrust into a role I never wanted to take. And my "destiny" still made me cringe. It wasn't a good thing, for me. It was bad. It was very, very bad. It made me into a hero, sure. It made me strong. Admirable for some strange reason.

But it also painted an enormous target on my back for any and every villain in Ninjago to shoot at. It painted a target on every single person I'd ever cared about. If it weren't for my destiny, Zane would still be alive and our team wouldn't have split up.

And yet, everyone said they wanted to be a hero. Everyone wanted that kind of destiny - they wanted to be destined to be hunted down by evil at every turn, because all the stories made it seem like it was the other way around.

It wasn't. Good didn't hunt evil so much as it was a beacon for it; if you were good enough, eventually evil would seek to snuff you out or convert you to their cause. I had experienced both, although I didn't really enjoy admitting to the second.

I just kind of wished I knew how many more times I was going to have to save the world before I was done, you know? How many more times the world would need my power before I could retire quietly. Maybe start a family, open a Ninja Academy, or rebuild Uncle Wu's old temple and live out the rest of my life in relative peace.

I was mulling all of that over, as it happened, when I made contact with the hardwood floor, my father towering above me. I soon came to realize that I had fallen myself, rather than being tackled by my father.

"Lloyd, are you alright?" My father asked, concern etched on his face. "You're shaking."

I glanced down and sure enough, my hands - and the rest of my body - were shaking of their own accord.

"Come on, let's get you inside." He put his arm around my shoulders, gently guiding me towards the house.

I nodded and followed my father into the kitchen, where he set to making a cup of tea for the both of us. "Here, this should calm your mind."

I accepted the cup and blew on the now steaming liquid. My dad fixed his own tea and moved to the living room with its more comfortable seating.

"Do you want to talk?" He asked after I'd gotten settled.

I raised my eyebrows, unsure if I trusted myself to speak. "About what?" I attempted, though it sounded a lot in my head.

My father's expression softened. "Lloyd, you recently lost one of your best friends, the team has disbanded and we haven't heard from Aia in almost three months. You haven't been acting like yourself lately and your mother and I are starting to grow concerned. "He gently rubbed my back like he used to when I was a child. "Remember, when you find yourself riding the wave of emotion, it's important not to dismiss those feelings. Emotions can be a lot like unruly children in need of attention; once we validate them, we allow them to be seen and have a voice."